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Finally a New Computer...

warriorscot

Posted 31 July 2005 - 10:32 AM

warriorscot

Member 5k

Retired Staff

8,889 posts

You neednt worry noone has yet built a system usuing normal parts that has exceeded 400W. Unless you use some rather exotic cooling solutions the most power hungry drives dozens of lights several gfx cards the most power hungry intel are you ever going to need close to the full capacity of any psu above 350W.

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KGH

Posted 31 July 2005 - 05:36 PM

KGH

Member

Member

101 posts

You neednt worry noone has yet built a system usuing normal parts that has exceeded 400W. Unless you use some rather exotic cooling solutions the most power hungry drives dozens of lights several gfx cards the most power hungry intel are you ever going to need close to the full capacity of any psu above 350W.

With respect, I don't agree for several reasons. The first issue is that the lower the overall wattage and amps put out on the 12V rail (and other rails depending on what peripherals you have), the more likely the power supply will be 'unclean' and fail to maintain constant and stable supply.

Just because you use a wattage calculator to determine your system only draws 320W does not mean that a 350W PSU will provide satisfactory performance.

The second issue, which is closely related to the first, is that if you utilise a low wattage PSU when compared with your overall system draw, you are going to place significant strain on the PSU and jeopardise your components. That is because very very few PSU's are capable of maintaing a constant power supply at anything near their specified wattage capacities. There is an interesting article on Tom's Hardware about these issues.

warriorscot

Posted 01 August 2005 - 08:03 AM

warriorscot

Member 5k

Retired Staff

8,889 posts

My post was assuming you have pruchased a good qualty power supply with a decent output. For the average user with a quality psu you are never going to need more than a 400W PSU ever no matter how many peripherals you have.
Its mostly to do with the quality of the PSU and its output in general terms noone has built a system with a "quality" PSU that has ever used more than 400W and a new build with a non generic PSU will not need the full capacity of a 350W PSU, alot of the 350W psus you can buy are some of the best giving good near constant output at there stated wattage.